CIF title likely to hasten CIF girls wrestling

During the CIF division wrestling championships, Priscilla Caldera of Imperial High School became the first female wrestler to win a CIF division title in the San Diego Section when she earned the 105-pound Division IV title February 17. Caldera’s win is likely to expedite the implementation of girls wrestling as a CIF San Diego Section sport.

“I think the impact is going to be good,” said Fallbrook head wrestling coach Roye Oliver. “It will make it a lot easier for us to get the athletic department to help support it even more.”

Girls wrestling is already a high school sport in Hawaii and in the CIF North Coast Section. “It’s going to happen,” Oliver said of girls wrestling in the San Diego Section. “There’s enough interest out there.”

At one time Oliver was in charge of youth wrestling for the Olympic Development Program, including girls wrestling. “I’ve been associated with all that,” he said of girls wrestling. “They’re tough girls.”

Caldera’s quest for a spot in the state tournament was derailed with a loss to Fallbrook’s Brett Jones in the all-division Masters Tournament, but she was one of two female wrestlers in the San Diego Section’s Masters Tournament. “I’m for it. I would really like to see girls wrestling come on stronger,” tournament director Dick Malliet said.

Malliet is also the director of the San Diego Wrestling Association, an affiliate of the USA Wrestling organization, the official governing body for amateur wrestling in the United States. The San Diego Wrestling Association offers a separate girls division if enough girls enter for a specific weight class in a specific age division.

“I think it’s going to happen in the next few years,” CIF San Diego Section commissioner Dennis Ackerman said of girls wrestling becoming a CIF sport in the San Diego Section. “I’d say maybe three to five years.”

Caldera’s CIF title may change Ackerman’s timeframe. “I think it’s going to happen even faster,” Oliver said.